Sam Reynolds displayed the heart, soul and chutzpah of of a Jewish milkman named Tevye.
It happened Friday at Savannah Center during a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof.” The famed musical will presented Saturdayday at 2 and 7 p.m.
Reynolds sings with a Catholic choir but Fiddler is about more than just faith. It’s also about coping and surviving in a changing unjust world.
And Tevye shows how faith, tradition and family can overcome man’ s inhumanity to man.
Just ask the Jewish people.
They have been persecuted and murdered throughout the ages, yet endure.
Tevye is a metaphor for Jewish people. He struggles with daily life; loses control over his daughters and must pick up everything he owns to move on three-days notice.
Tevye’s crime?
Being a Jew.
“I know we’re the chosen people,” Tevye says in a prayer of mock anguish while gazing up to the sky. “But once in a while couldn’t you choose someone else?”
“Fiddler” is a big, challenging musical. Director Jacqueline Quirk turned in a scaled down, intimate production. She offered some glorious scenes.
The sequence for “The Dream” song was a visual, eerie delight. Tevye and his wife Golde (Kathleen Kane) are wearing white nightgowns in bed. Suddenly the stage was populated by a ghostly figure and a chorus of Tevye’s relatives.
The wedding of Tevye’s daughter Tzeitel (Alexandra Sexton) and Motel (Scotty Thomas) filled the stage with singing, dancing and merriment. Perchik (Jared Eggleston) did a nifty dance with a bottle on his head.
Tevye’s second daughter Hodel (Victoria Sexton) eventually finds love with Perchik. She leaves home to marry him anf Teyve can only watch and say goodbye.
Then comes the problem of daughter Chava (Charlene Sexton). She marries outside the faith to a Russian played by Chase DeCarlo. Tevye disapproves and disowns his daughter but it doesn’t stop her. Eventually, he wished her well.
Such is the essence of Fiddler. It’s about a man and his family trying to survive as the world around them spins out of control.
Tevye is at the center of this chaotic universe. Reynolds brings him to life with his movements, facial expressions and, most of all, songs.
Reynolds booming bass carried to the last row of Savannah Center. But he also displayed a soft and tender side.
From “If I Were A Rich Man” to “Sunrise Sunset” Reynolds magnified the integrity of the play, the character and the Jewish people.
And that’s what “Fiddler On the Roof” is all about.
